She replied, because I am an atheist and as so I am my own sustainer. That is why I have to work very hard and save money because I know that eventually I will reach an age when I will not be able to work anymore and will need my savings to sustain myself.

At the same time because I am an atheist I am responsible for my own safety, that’s why I am responsible for protecting myself from danger. That is why I do not ride trains planes or cars because I am afraid of being in an accident. The problem is that these two things are conflicting: I have to work hard in order to make money and at the same time I cannot make my life easier by using modern methods of transportation.

But when I heard from you about Divine Decree and Destiny, I knew that this was the only concept that would put me at ease. Knowing that there is someone who will provide for me and protect me and that all I have to do is to adopt the necessary means to achieve what I want and leave everything up to my Provider and Protector.

When Ego Is the Master

Those who believe that by abandoning or refraining from religion they will be free from any servitude and will be their own Masters are mistaken. They were merely exchanging their servitude to God with servitude to their own whims, desires and ego.

Therefore, they will still be enslaved but not to God; not to the One Who commands good and forbids evil. The ego is a very dangerous master. It compelled one of the sons of Adam to kill the other when he saw that his brother’s offering was accepted while his wasn’t.

The ego made Iblees become a rebellious devil when he rejected the command of Allah to bow down to Adam. When God reprimanded him he said, {I am better than him: You made me from fire, and him from clay.} (Saad 38:76)

Ego makes people racist, misogynist, Islamophobic and anti-Semitic. Desire is a very dangerous master. Those who are enslaved to their desires are liable to commit some of the worst sins. One can steal, be unfaithful, bribe or accept bribes when enslaved to desires.

Choose your master: God or desires? God or ego?

Servitude to God is an honor and it brings limitless freedom. Believing that there is no god but Allah does not only mean that I will not worship anyone except Allah.

It also means that I will not fear anyone but Allah; that I will not ask for anything except from Allah; I will not expect anything except from Allah; I will not pray except to Allah; I will not complain to anyone but to Allah; I would not love anything except what Allah loves and I will not dislike anything except what Allah dislikes.

That is why the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was described in the Quran as a liberator. He who liberates people from the restraints that bind them.  (Al-A`raf 7:157)

That is why anyone who is arrogant in the face of Allah will be imprisoned in many worldly prisons. Choosing between servitude to God or servitude to others is in effect choosing between freedom and slavery.

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